A Steady Job

Due to increasingly heavy barge traffic, LaCrosse, Wis., officials scheduled mid-1997 construction of a second refleeting area on the Mississippi River for separation of individual barges carrying coal, grain and other commodities from barge trains. The structure was to consist of a 20-foot-diameter main mooring pile farthest downstream and five more structures, each consisting of one pile welded to another at an angle.
The LaCrosse-based marine contractor, J.F. Brennan, was no stranger to the kind of construction the Broken Arrow Fleeting Area required. However, although Croell Redi-Mix managers knew their drivers were good, the drivers weren't good enough to walk -- let alone park their trucks -- on water.
[KEYWORDS: barge, Croell, Mississippi, LaCrosse]